With exotic diseases on the rise, farmers need to prioritise vaccination, biosecurity and long-term planning to safeguard livestock health and business resilience. Katie Fallon reports
Disease in the UK's livestock sector is nothing new, with the devastation of foot-and-mouth disease a not-so-distant memory. However, with rising incidents of exotic livestock diseases such as bluetongue creeping in from the continent, disease is not just part of the sector's past, but is set to remain a part of its future.
Therefore, to help farmers future-proof both their livestock and farm businesses against the threat of disease, vet Jenny Hull, of the Northumberland-based Black Sheep Farm Health, shares some practical advice on strengthening resilience and animal health.
Vaccination
Firstly, Dr Hull says vaccination is one of the most important tools in preventing and protecting livestock against disease. She explains that industry backed guidance, such as the National Office for Animal Health (NOAH) Livestock Vaccination Guidelines, highlights certain livestock diseases where vaccination is considered highly important, known as category one vaccines.
According to the NOAH guidelines, category one vaccinations for beef cattle include bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD), leptospirosis, and clostridial diseases, with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and clostridial diseases for suckler calves.
For sheep, category one vaccinations include clostridial diseases, pasteurellosis, footrot, toxoplasmosis and enzootic abortion of ewes (EAE). Additionally, vaccinations for BVD, leptospirosis, calf scour and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) are considered category one in dairy cattle.
Dr Hull says: "The default is to vaccinate against these diseases, unless there is some serious justification not too."
Disease eradication
Following vaccination, Dr Hull says disease eradication is the next key area for future-proofing the livestock sector against disease, with a focus on eradicating BVD both on a national and herd level.
With only 35% of breeding cows estimated to be vaccinated against BVD, England is often referred to as ‘Europe's dirty neighbour' in terms of its BVD status.
Dr Hull says: "People have just not engaged in disease control. It is a manageable disease; it is not like Johne's which is much more insidious or TB that is raffled up in legislation of wildlife vectors. BVD [eradication] is definitely something that is doable."
While there have been no official announcements, Dr Hull says there are discussions taking place surrounding BVD legislation for a national eradication policy coming into effect for 2027.
She says: "The idea is that the [Animal Health and Welfare] pathway is going to morph into legislation and eradication. This will mean that farmers will legally have to know their BVD status.
"Legislation is coming, we do not know the details yet, but it is coming and it is long overdue, certainly for England. Wales and Ireland have their own schemes, and Scotland is way ahead of us."
As well as national eradication, Dr Hull says herd level eradication of livestock disease is equally important and advises farmers to make use of the funding available through the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway to help with disease screening on-farm.
Exotic diseases and climate change
With a list of exotic diseases creeping nearer to the UK from Europe, notably foot-and-mouth, African Swine Fever and lumpy skin disease, Dr Hull advises farmers to remain vigilant.
She says: "In some ways, there is not a lot we can do about the incursion of these exotic diseases, but they are going to be more of an issue. With climate change, the vector-borne diseases will be the big ones.
"What we are seeing at the moment is bluetongue and Schmallenberg carried by midges, but we are also seeing a spread of tickborne diseases as well."
For example, Dr Hull says they are seeing cases of babesiosis also known as redwater fever for the first time in North East England.
She says: "It is an intracellular parasite that ticks carry, which sheep are resistant to, but cattle can get it."
Therefore, Dr Hull advises integrated parasite management on-farm for protection against tick infestations will become more important and help futureproof livestock against disease going forwards.
Biosecurity
Effective biosecurity measures are a key part of ensuring resilience against livestock disease, says Dr Hull, who believes there are learnings to be had from the pig and poultry sectors.
She says: "If you went onto a pig farm, they would provide you with wellies and waterproofs, and you would have to have had three pig free days before you go onto the property. And the poultry sector would be the same."
For beef and sheep farms, quarantining incoming stock is a key biosecurity measure, along with double fencing field boundaries, where possible. Dr Hull also advises thinking about contractors as a potential risk, such as clipping trailers and sheep scanners bringing in sheep scab or footrot.
Spreading Johne's disease through muck spreaders could also be another risk area. "If you have got contractors coming in with a muck spreader, make sure it is clean, and it is power washed out before they start spreading muck on your ground. Everyone and everything coming onto farm should be clean and preferably disinfected."
With TB continuing to be one of the biggest risks to the cattle sector, Dr Hull advises buying in low-risk cattle and always post-movement testing cattle regardless of where or what TB status they have come from.
Reducing bought in stock, and breeding more home-bred replacements is another way to minimise the risk of bringing disease on-farm. Dr Hull adds: "Your flock or your herd is an island in terms of keeping diseases out."
Planning contingencies
Having a contingency plan in place in case of a disease breakdown is something that should be considered, advises Dr Hull. "If you did get shut down with TB, have you got a plan in place in terms of where you are going to sell your cattle or can you finish your cattle?
"If you go down with sheep scab, how are you going to get everything treated? Can you manage to keep fat lambs on a long withdrawal? Can you get everything dipped?"
Optimise animal health
While farmers cannot always prevent the incurrence of disease, ensuring livestock are in optimal health could help to reduce the effects of disease. Dr Hull says: "Get your nutrition right, get your trace elements right and make sure there are no deficiencies.
"Cull appropriately and make proactive culling decisions. Cull out bad feet, cull out cows with small pelvises, cull out ewes with big teats – make really good proactive culling decisions to optimise health."
Farmer and vet relationship
When looking at resilience and the livestock sector going forward, making good use of your farm vet will be crucial. Dr Hull says: "I always say that a vet should be an investment and not a cost. Your vet should be involved, and you should be using them for advice and have a good open line of communication."
She advises vet costs should be spent on proactive measures such as vaccinations and disease testing. "Do not spend less, spend better."
Environment
Finally, with the environment set to play a large role in terms of government spending within the agricultural sector, Dr Hull advises making management decisions with environmental impacts in mind.
For example, tweaking management systems to reduce environmental impact, such as moving to a breed of shedding sheep which could help reduce the amount of chemicals and pour-on products needed to manage blowfly strike.
"I think the parasiticides we use especially in the sheep sector, in terms of the pour-ons, blowfly strike treatments and organophosphate (OP) dips for sheep scab - I think they are going to be scrutinised more going forwards, in terms of environmental impact."
